Fumihiko Tominaga: Ganbare Nippon!

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Monterey Institute students, faculty, and staff say “Ganbatte” to the people of Japan.

April 4, 2011

I was studying in library when a massive earthquake of magnitude 9.0 hit Japan on March 11, 2011. As soon as I heard about the earthquake, I called my family in Tokyo and made sure that everyone was safe. However, I could not stop following the news coverage from Japan. Being far from home, I was nervous about what was happening and felt so helpless.

A few days later, I was discussing what we could do for Japan with Rob Horgan, an Enrollment Manager who lived and worked in Japan for more than 10 years, and we came up with the idea for this video. We thought it would be a nice compliment to the efforts of the Monterey Institute faculty and students who had begun to collect donations. We decided to shoot footage of students, staff and faculty saying one word in Japanese “ganbatte,” which means “hang in there.” In the end, we put them together, along with a few other prayers and remarks from Japanese speakers on campus, into a short video.

I hope this video can, in some way, cheer up our friends and alumni in Japan. We continue to offer our prayers and support for the people in Japan.